Disclaimer: HB owns all rights I am just borrowing them for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of others. I am making no money off this. I have tried to be in keeping with the characters as they were created. I only own Phineas Coltaire but if anyone wishes to use him go ahead. Just make sure that he is thoroughly twisted and that you make no permanent changes to him.
Trip to Insanity
By: SparksJSH
"Jonny, watch out."
Sixteen-year-old redheaded Jessie Bannon laughed as her warning came too late. Fifteen-year-old blonde headed groaned as the virtual monster devoured his last man. He shook his head as the final scores were posted: JB 4,786,500 JQ 4,600,950.
"I can't believe you beat me like that. You've never beaten me before."
"There's a first time for everything." Before Jessie could gloat further, the telephone next to the computer rang. She plucked up the receiver and said hello. The connection was terrible but she just could make out Dr. Quest's voice.
"J… can't talk long… Race in trouble…I need you two….Hanger 7…airport…one hour." The connection broke off completely. She hung up the phone and frowned.
Jonny watched her worriedly. "What's wrong, Jess?"
"That was your dad. The message was garbled but it sounded like he was saying my dad was in trouble. He wants us to meet him at the airport." She twisted her hands nervously, worry evident on her face. Jenny reached out and squeezed her arm.
"Relax, Jess. Race knows how to take care of himself. It's probably something minor. Come on. We might as well head on to the airport. I know you are going to worry until you see Race for yourself."
Jessie let Jonny drive. She was much too nervous to concentrate on the task herself. The phone call was bother her, beyond just the thought that something was wrong with her dad. Though the voice was definitely Dr. Quest's, the conversation was totally unlike him.
"Jonny, why would your Dad send us to Hanger 7? The Quest planes are in hangers 3, 10, and 12."
"Maybe that's were the trouble is."
Jessie shook her head. "Jonny, that makes even less sense. When have you ever know either of our dads to knowingly send us into danger?"
"You're just worried about Race, Jess. Everything is going to be fine." Suddenly they heard several shots ring out and the Quest van jerked to the right. Jonny pulled hard on the wheels trying to keep the van on the road. "Then again, you may be on to something there. They've blown one of our tires. We'll have to get out and fun for it."
Jonny stopped the van and the two teens emerged on Jessie's side. Jonny grabbed her hand as they ran. Jessie glanced back to see if they were being pursued and saw a man raising a shotgun aimed at her.
Something sharp pierced her left shoulder. She stumbled, losing hold of Jonny's hand. A warm tingling coursed through her body as she dropped to her knees. She called out to her friend as blackness closed over her.
Jonny turned back to help her and was shocked to see a tranquilizer dart sticking out of her shoulder. He yanked it out and pulled her to her feet, determined to drag her if necessary. He had barely moved two feet when he too felt the sting of a dart puncturing the back of his neck. He collapsed pulling Jessie down with him.
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Jonny came to with a groan. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out but the throbbing in his head and the ache in his shoulders and back both suggested it had been awhile. He looked around to check out his surroundings. He was strapped to a chair in what appeared to be crude by sophisticatedly equipped lab. Jessie was strapped to a chair near him, still unconscious. He strained against his bonds but they held him fast.
"Jessie?!"
She moaned slightly and tried to open her eyes. Her head lolled back against the headrest. But then she slipped back into oblivion.
"Welcome, young Mr. Quest. I hope your brief nap wasn't too unpleasant." The voice came from a speaker mounted in the corner of the room.
Jonny once again strained against the straps. "Who are you? What have you done to Jessie?"
"Relax Jonny. She will awaken soon. She unfortunately took the dart that was meant for you. A slightly stronger tranquilizer meant for our slightly larger frame and weight. As soon as she awakens I will re-introduce myself and explain why I have brought you here."
"Jonny?" Jessie's voice was tiny and sleep filled.
Jonny looked over and saw that her eyes were opened but still drugged glazed. She weakly tested her bonds. "I'm here, Jess. Who ever was firing at us hit us with tranq darts."
"Welcome back, Jessica Bannon. My, you've grown into a beautiful young woman. You were fortunate enough to inherit Estella's lovely features."
Jessie looked over at Jonny. "Do we know this guy? He certainly seems to know us."
"He did say something about re-introducing himself."
"I'm not surprised if you don't remember me. Both of you were quite small when I last saw you." A door slid open and a middle-aged man with long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail entered. He looked vaguely familiar to both teens but neither could really place him. He looked a little disappointed. "You don't even recognize my face either. Well, time has not been good to me since I last saw you. I'm Phineas Coltaire."
A light went off in Jonny's head. "You used to work with Dad. But then you got some pretty twisted ideas about your experiments and he had to let you go."
Phineas' face hardened. "My ideas were not 'twisted'; they were brilliant. Benton would have agreed if Bannon hadn't filled his head with lies.
Jessie glared at him. "My dad doesn't tell lies. I remember him talking about you. He was afraid you would get Dr. Quest in trouble with all of your schemes."
"Like father like daughter, I suppose. Well, Race Bannon is going to regret the day he crossed me."
Jonny narrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I have perfected a new form of virtual reality experience. On in which the participant cannot distinguish fantasy from reality. The subject is completely convinced that what is happening in the virtual world is what is happening in real life. The computer can determine the subject's worst fears and make them happen. In the right circumstance it could drive a person stark raving mad. My first subject will be Miss Bannon here, payback to Race for ruining my life. And you, Jonny, will watch just as Benton stood by and watched."
Without another word, Phineas attached a pad to Jessie's left temple. She twisted and turned trying to avoid him but couldn't. He then placed another pad on her right temple. He turned to Jonny. "This wire is what will keep Jessie from remembering that she is only in cyber world. The other will directly link her thoughts to the computer and implement them in the virtual world. Oh, I forget to mention," he continued as he placed the VR visor behind her ear. "If she is prematurely pulled from the program for any reason or in any way, it will kill her."
"You made that phone call, didn't you?" Jessie's eyes glistened with unshed tears. "Is my dad here? Is he okay?"
Phineas laughed. "I don't know where your dad is but I would assume that he is alright. At least for now, until he sees what becomes of his little Ponchita." He went to the computer and keyed in a few commands. "This first test will only last five minutes. Program PCTest1 loaded, subject Jessica Bannon. 5…4…3…2…1 Going Hot."
The visor came to live and Jonny saw Jessie's muscles tighten. He renewed his attempt to escape from his bonds. He wondered what Jessie was going through.
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Jessie looked around the open field. "Jonny? Dad? Hadji? Dr. Quest? Where is everyone?"
A breeze blew up and seemed to whisper to her. "Gone, all gone."
She rubbed her arms absently. Was she really in truly alone? In the distance she could see a house and decided to head toward it.
"Jessie! Help me!" Race Bannon's voice drifted on the wind from the direction of the house.
"Dad? Hang on, I'm coming." She took off running but stopped short when a familiar voice called to her from the tree line.
"Jessie, help me." Jonny needed her too, but was nowhere near the house. How could she help both of them? How could she choose between them?
"Jessie, help me." From across the tree line and down the hill came Hadji's voice. She spun that way, her heart pounding wildly.
"Jessie, help me." Dr. Quest's voice followed her from the direction she had come.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. From above her came her mother's voice adding to the plea "Jessie, help me."
What was she going to do? Everyone she cared about needed her. There was no way she could help them all.
"Jessie!" "Jessie!" "Jessie!" "Jessie!" "Jessie!" All five continued to call out to her. She had to do something. She turned toward the house where her father was. If she could help him he could then help her save the others. But her legs refused to obey. Her heart pounded in her chest. "Dad!"
With a sob, Jessie sank to the ground. One by one her friends cries for help turned to screams of pain and agony and ten faded out. Soon only her screams were left.
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Jonny watched helplessly as Jessie struggled in her induction chair. At one point it looked as if she were trying to run. Then she began to call out to Race and to him in fear.
"Stop this Coltaire! Leave her alone!"
Phineas laughed. "Does young Quest not like to see his girlfriend in trouble? How sweet. Too bad Benton didn't try to help me when Race Bannon was destroying my life."
When Jessie began to scream Jonny pulled against his bonds even harder. He hated seeing his friend in distress, hated knowing what Coltaire's experiment could be doing to her mind. Suddenly he was aware that one of the straps was working loose.
The visor cut out and Jessie slumped in her chair, visibly drained and disoriented. Phineas checked his computer readout. "Your pulse is racing and your blood pressure is way up. I don't think you enjoyed your trip, Jessie. Rest while you can before I send you back under to experience the full effects of my little program."
Coltaire left and Jonny wasted no time slipping his arm free from the strap and releasing his other bonds. He knelt in front of Jessie and removed the electrodes attached to her forehead. She stirred only slightly.
"Jessie? Wake up!"
Her eyes fluttered and her lower lip trembled as tears fell down her cheeks. "Jonny, I'm sorry I couldn't save you."
Jonny released her bonds but before helping her up, he turned to the computer and started trying to contact his father and Race at the compound. He had barely patched in a message when the door slid open and Phineas reentered.
Jonny turned back toward Jessie but knew immediately that she was in no condition to run for it. So instead he launched himself at Phineas. But Phineas was too strong for him and Jonny soon found himself pinned beneath his captor.
"Jessie!!"
Jonny looked out of the corner of his eye hoping that y now, Jessie would have recovered enough to come to his aide. Instead she had curled up in a ball; her hands over her ears and her eyes were tightly closed. That sight knocked the fight out of Jonny as he was stunned to see the effect Phineas' program had had on her after only five minutes.
Phineas dragged Jonny back to his chair and strapped him back in, this time making sure the straps were extra tight. He laughed. "Did you really think you could get away?" He glanced at the computer and his eyes narrowed. "You contacted your father didn't you?"
Jonny stared back at him defiantly. "I did and he and Race should be here shortly. You might as well release us."
Phineas laughed. "Release you? Stupid boy, you've played right into my hands. I had planned on luring Benton and Race here myself. All you did was up the timetable some and cost your friend a recovery period."
He knelt in front of her chair and took hold of her right arm so he could restrap her. Jessie whimpered and tightened her muscles. Annoyed Phineas pulled harder. Jonny heard a definitive crack moments before Jessie screamed in pain.
"You broke her arm, you sicko."
Phineas calmly continued to strap Jessie back to the chair, ignoring Jessie's cries of pain. "And I will break as many as it takes to succeed."
He reattached the electrodes to her temples. "By the time Bannon gets here I'll be long gone and Jessie here will be locked in her own private hell, her own trip to insanity if you will. I'll set the timer for three hours. That should be plenty long enough to drive even the strongest person completely mad and give enough time to ensure that Race will have to stand back and watch his little girl suffer."
"Don't! Don't hurt her anymore. She's suffered enough. Leave her alone."
"Again such affection for Miss Bannon, Jonny. How sweet. It changes nothing but it is sweet. Program PCRevenge loaded, subject Jessica Bannon, 5…4…3…2…1 going hot."
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Jessie shivered as she looked around. Her right arm dangled uselessly by her side. "Where am I?"
She was standing on the porch of an old house. It looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't place where she knew it from. "Jonny? Where are you?"
She vaguely recalled having heard him call to her for help. She cautiously opened the front door and stepped into the foyer. Suddenly she recognized where she was. It was the Quest Compound but it was darker and more sinister looking than she could ever recall seeing it.
"Dr. Quest? Daddy? Hadji? Jonny? Anyone home?"
She heard a whimper and looked down to see Bandit. He didn't bound up to greet her as he usually did. She reached down to pet him with her left hand but snatched it back as he snarled at her.
Confused she continued into the house. She checked every room but could find no trace of her family and friends. All she found was furniture turned over and personal items strewn about. Finally she stepped out back, intending to check out the lighthouse. Instead a small section of the garden that appeared to have been converted to a cemetery caught her eye and froze her in her tracks. As she stepped over to it the first headstone that she saw was for Benton Quest. She frowned. How could Dr. Quest be dead? Was this someone's sick idea of a joke? Next to it was a headstone with Hadji's name on it. Bewildered she compared the death dates on both headstones. They were the same date. Growing more and more alarmed she walked further in to the graveyard.
She collapsed to her knees when she saw the next tow headstones resting side by side. Estella Valequez and Roger Bannon. A lump in her throat threatened to choke her as she cried for her parents. She couldn't accept the fact that both of her parents were gone.
"Keep looking." A voice on the wind urged her to look to the back of the cemetery. She screamed as she saw the final headstone. Jonathan Quest.
"No! How did this happen? Who did this?"
She began to wail and scream again as the wind answered her. "You did…You did…You did…"
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Jessie's continued screams had Jonny crying silently. His wrists were raw from where he had struggled against his bonds. He couldn't take much more of her pain and he could only guess that it was ten times worse for Jessie. Where were Race and his dad?
As if on cue he heard Race calling from outside the door. "Jessie, Jonny, hang on. I'm coming."
"Race, we're in here. Hurry, Jessie needs us."
After a couple of kicks, the door splintered open and Race rushed in, Benton on his heels. Race knelt in front of his daughter and looked at her worriedly. He looked at Jonny questionably. "What's wrong with her?"
"She's in a virtual reality program design to drive her mad."
Fear and anger flashed in his eyes. "What the devil? We've got to stop it. Benton?"
"No, if it's stopped prematurely, it will kill her. It's set for three hours and I'm guessing she's been in there over an hour now." Race undid Jonny's bonds and the teen joined his father at the computers. Benton squeezed his shoulder, obviously relieved to see his son in one piece. Anything further could wait until Jessie was safe as well.
As he looked over the computer, he filled the two men in on what had happened. When he got to the part about how Phineas had broken her arm trying to restrain her, Race's jaw rocked in anger. Race caressed her cheek as her screams quieted to sobs.
"Hang on, Ponchita."
"Phineas Coltaire, I thought we had seen the last of him years ago." Benton shook his head.
"If I see him again, he'll wish he'd stayed hidden." Race took Jessie's left hand in his own.
"I think I have a way of helping Jessie."
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Jessie looked around through a haze of tears. How had she gotten from the cemetery to this cell? A shadowy figure stood in the far corner of the cell. She sniffled. "What happened to Jonny and the others?"
"You killed them. They needed you but you did nothing to help them. Their blood is on your hands, Jessica Bannon."
"No, I wanted to help them but I couldn't move. Please, they can't be dead."
"They are and you must pay for your crimes."
Jessie hugged herself with her good arm as she huddled on the floor. "Oh Daddy, you can't be gone. I need you."
A grinding noise made her look up. Was it her imagination or were the walls closing in on her? Her heart quickened. The walls were slowly closing in. She squeezed her eyes shut and began to shake. No, not this on top of everything else. She was claustrophobic but at least the last time she freaked out over it, Jonny had been there to help her through it. Fear rose up in her like bile and she struck out smashing the wall with both hands, ignoring the pain, ignoring everything but this urgent need to get out before the room completely closed in on her.
"Jessie."
She stopped and looked back. How could this be? He couldn't be here; he was dead. "Jonny?"
He knelt beside her and folded her in his arm. She began to sob. He gently caressed her hair. "Relax, Jess, you're safe."
"No, the room is closing in. I have to get out of here." She shifted to try to get away but Jonny held her tighter.
"Jess, relax. Listen to me, none of this is real. It's a VR fantasy."
Jessie shook her head. "No, I know the difference between VR and what's real."
He quickly reminded her about what had happened to them. He was concerned by how much she was still shaking and sobbing. She shuddered hard. "If this is VR then log me off. I can't take this anymore."
"We can't. Coltaire has the program locked into timer. If you exit early, it will kill you. I managed to log into the program without Coltaire's extra attachments so I can help you distinguish fact from fantasy but you have to listen to me and trust me. Okay?"
"Okay. Don't let go of me."
"Don't listen to him." The voice on the wind floated through the room. "He doesn't exist. You killed him. You killed them all."
"NO!" Jonny pulled Jessie even closer. "Don't listen to that voice, Jessie. It's the one that's lying. I'm here. So are your dad and mine."
"Keep talking to her, Jonny." Benton's voice came through his visor. "Her vitals improve when you talk to her."
For what seemed like the longest time, the voice continued to torment Jessie. She kept her head buried in Jonny's chest listening only to his voice. He talked about everything he could think of. Anything that would keep her from giving into the voice.
"Jonny?" Her voice was small and weak.
"Yeah, Jess?"
"How much longer?"
"Dad?"
"Twenty minutes, Son."
"Hang on, Jess. It's almost over."
"Ponchita, come to me." Race's voice came from the shadows. This new voice startled both teens but Jonny immediately recognized it as part of the program.
"Dad?" She sat up and forcibly pushed Jonny away.
"No, Jessie. That's not your dad. It's the program. The other tactics weren't working so they are trying to fool you into thinking its Race."
"He's lying, Jessie. I'm here. Benton and I came to rescue you but this program has you thinking that's really Jonny. I came to show you the way out. Come on, Ponchita."
"I'm coming, Daddy."
Jonny grabbed her waist and held on tightly. "Jess, that's not your dad and I can prove it. Race, who won our last Cyberbattle? Me or Jessie?"
"Jessie did."
Jonny turned Jessie toward him. "See, Jess. If that was really your dad, how would he know? You've never beaten me before and your dad wasn't there earlier when we played. Right after the game was over, Phineas tricked and captured us. Only you and I know what happened. He's a product of your subconscious."
"Come on, Jessie. Come quickly before the room completely closes in on you."
"Don't trust him Jessie. He's not Race."
Jessie pulled away from Jonny and curled up in a ball. With her eyes closed and hands over her ears, she had effectively cut herself off from everything else.
"Jonny, the time is up. You are both being logged off."
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The walls were closing in on her once more. A voice taunted her in the darkness. She whimpered and strong arms pulled her close. "Relax, Ponchita, you're safe now."
Jessie opened her eyes and looked around. She was in her bedroom at the Quest Compound. Race was on the bed beside her, his eyes tired. Jessie urged her heart rate to return to normal as she reminded herself that she was safe. In the two days since Phineas had kidnapped them, Jessie had mostly slept, her body physically exhausted from her mental trip in Coltaire's program. That sleep, however, had been punctuated with horrible nightmares, flashbacks from what had happened.
But she was never alone. Every time she awoke, someone was there with her, holding her, comforting her, no matter the time of day or night. She snuggled back into his embrace, shifting her cast-coated arm into a more comfortable position. Safe in his arms, she drifted back to sleep.
The next nightmare was the worst one yet. This time her subconscious twisted what had happened and she found herself stuck in the program without Jonny there to help her. She could feel her sanity drifting away slowly, drop by drop.
She sat up, too frightened even to scream. Jonny was at her side in an instant, hugging her tightly, not saying anything, waiting for her breathing to return to normal. She clung to him like a lifeline.
"Jonny, if you hadn't been there…"
"Shh. It's okay now, Jess. You're safe and he can't hurt you anymore."
Jessie sniffled. "But he's still out there. He could try again."
"Race has security around here tightened worse than the White House. Phineas won't get you here."
"But he's still in my head. He's still attacking me."
"But we're here for you, Jess. Me, your dad, my dad. Even Hadji and your mom are ready to fly in at a minute's notice. But you are getting stronger. Your nightmares are becoming fewer and fewer and soon they'll just be distant memories. You're strong, Jessica Bannon. You'll get through this. We'll make sure of it."
Jessie watched him for a long moment and then nodded. "Okay." She settled back on the bed; Jonny's arms around her. "Just hold me a little longer." Her voice was already becoming sleepy again.
An hour later Race stuck his head in her room and sighed in relief. Both teens were asleep, Jonny's arms still securely around her waist. Had it been any other time, he would be having a fit about the two of them being in bed together but for the first time since this whole nightmare started, Jessie's face looked peaceful. He knew for certain now that she would be all right.
THE END